Monday, August 31, 2009

Wesley Cheeks is NOT a Fairfax County police officer, he is a security officer employed by the Fairfax County Public Schools. You may go to http://www.fcps.edu to contact the School's Department of Communicationand Community Outreach concerning this matter. They may also be reached by phone at 571-423-1200.

I really liked this post by Pioneer Woman. One sees it here so often - the kids are made of sterner stuff. We've friends whose young boys are quite capable of every single manly task and duty necessary for survival sans the modern world. They work in the ungodly heat all day without a complaint, with smiles. We adore those young men and I like to think that if we had kids they'd be the same...

My stepdaughter used to be that way - so decisive and goal driven - fearless. For a few years she has floundered about, and I've been so worried and yet hands-off. She is quite old enough to care for herself. Still, Trooper and I have talked often about her and wished for better...

One must always parent from a distance when they've come of age. It is their life to live or ruin. And it pains me so much to see her taking chances with it but I've held my tongue. And now, perhaps, we can offer more support, more connections without feeling as though we are condoning a behavior we don't agree with.

She called last week to relate her new path. When she was young she'd been interested in medicine and volunteered at a hospital for a long summer. She'd gone to college thinking it'd be her major. But then immaturity and foolishness lost that goal. She has been tinkering in her life since. Now, full-circle, she comes to the thought that maybe nursing/EMT work would be the thing. And Trooper and I heaved a collective sigh. YESSSS....

She WANTS to be a flight nurse (mixing her other love of flight with that interest in medicine). So...it is all quite promising. If she'd just let go that man-boy of hers...I know, I know...I shouldn't judge like that but it is a fact and one that, for some reason, she is content with! Perhaps she gets to be in charge and it pleases her. But that sort of thing becomes quite disenchanting after a few years.

Oh, let her just Be Wise - that is my usual whispered wish...it ought to suffice.

We woke this morning to a fine, cool dawn. I'd not noticed when I let the dog out for his daily sunrise salutation. It was early and I went back to bed. But soon after Trooper could sleep no more and we woke, each of a mind for a cup of coffee.

He called to me as I dressed, an urgent but happy tone. He stood at the back door. Ah, the breeze and the slight damp of the night rain...it was almost autumnal and we grinned like fools. "Coffee on the terrace, Sir?" I joked. And so we did - one of the best mornings we've had in ages.

This all followed a night of slumber - the deep and satisfying kind that comes after a long day of labor. And labor we - well, he - had. His friend needed a bit of assistance on the acreage he was clearing. We both prefer that sort of work wherein what you have accomplished is evident at the end of the day. The kind of work that leaves dust in the sweaty creases of your brow. What a sense of happiness comes from it...you would think the 100+ degrees would make it a burden. But instead one learns to lean in to a breeze and appreciate it. You pour that ice cold water from the cooler on a towel and it takes your breath away along with that top layer of filth.

We look at that kind of life with a sort of mixed sense of desire and resignation. It will all come to this, won't it? "A southern boy can survive..." And what about when there is no icy water? Will a pond suffice? Or will it take swipes of alcohol on the back of the neck to mimic that cooling?

I've been working in the tomatoes, taking out foliage and suckers, hoping to force them into a renewed vigor for this best season. All the small ones are dried and won't go to waste - they'll work someday in a stew or chili. And if fortune gives us a new batch? Well, then the canning will be next. I lucked upon a slim book from 1938 that covers the approach from seed to shelf. A knowledge almost lost in today's world where anything can be had at a shop within a few miles of home. But there is renewed interest in the kitchen arts with even charcuterie guides being sought.

With every plant, every day moving dirt, every stir of the compost heap - with every ancient motion resurrected in modern bones and flesh - we move from the deadend path to that fork and onto a rougher road that lets one continue, without dependence, perhaps some reluctance, but surely to a better place.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

I would never have thought that a Whole Foods CEO could draft this missive. Not to say I agree with all of it but it's a decent whack at the thing that goes slam against what I am sure most people expected from that corner.

P.S. If you are the praying kind, spare one or two for her and Elway. I may not comprehend the all out desire to procreate but I sure do respect her information acquisition and smart approach to the whole thing. You hang in there, Elway, damn it!

I found this oldish post via a series of links. As a very basic watercolorist I can understand what I am looking at.

I am strangely warmed by the thought that, halfway around the world, there is a place where the very basics of art are appreciated, collected, and carefully presented to those who will also appreciate, collect and present them.

Sunday, August 16, 2009

I've been quietly reading the blog of a lovely Mormon woman who goes by Nie. She had this quote in this morning's post.

"There is in every true woman's heart a spark of heavenly fire,which lies dormant in the broad daylight of prosperity; but which kindles up and beams and blazes in the dark hour of adversity." -Washington Irving

Is it not the very truth?

Today she has chosen - on the one year anniversary of that terrible accident - to reveal herself to everyone. As a fellow burn victim I can appreciate that courage. My own scars are small and private. Hers stand out for all to appreciate. Today she gives them to us whole.

And in that visage, that flesh that she fights to see herself in, I saw a depth of strength and beauty that was somewhat unexpected. She is there. Plain as day.

Their faith is a very impressive one. I've never bent the knee, really. I don't necessarily need a church or congregation. I don't even really choose to name the ineffable. But in her there is an astounding level of my favorite attribute, grace.

That's what I just saw...some poor woman's entire set of possessions scattered here and there in the warm Texas grass on the side of the highway in the middle of nowhere. The poor woman - she had a 64 ft moving van filled to the brim with all she had. One of those wild Texas winds snatched up the thing and gave it a shove. It being top heavy, there was only one result possible.

She is fortunate to have walked away. Oh, she's wounded to the core, I imagine - but the crazed flipping and flopping left her with a cut arm, I hear. The rest of her things...well, they didn't survive the trip.

A late dinner planned, I heard the call-out even as he was telling me he was almost home. I just sighed, knowing when it says CMV that it isn't going to be fast or easy. Much later, he called. Some dithering between us, I finally reminded him there was nowhere else to get a meal except where I was. The staff at McD's kicked out a dozen burgers with alacrity.

Even so, it took a good 40 minutes to get there. Darker than - as he says - 4 foot up a bulls ass...and a road that has no divider with oncoming traffic just a narrow 6 inch stripe away. We both detest that arrangement but it is what it is.

I was glad to have packed the cool, wet washcloths for mopping off the sweat and grime before eating. All the guys were there, needing every light they had to just illuminate the scene, the road, and to keep another wreck from happening.

I picked my way through it all, my own flashlight giving flashes of the furniture all strewn about. I could not help but wonder about her...if she was having "I told you so" moments in her mind, not wanting to move anyway. And how to unload all your things in some new place and have to pick through it all to get what was salvagable? The loss would come again with every opened box.

Thankfully, the rental company had another truck coming and a set of movers were on-scene when I left, staging the items along the roadside to speed up the loading process when the replacement truck arrived. A driver, too, was there, waiting and a tow truck to take his personal vehicle home, I assume. I could not help but think back to our own experience with the same agency and how pleased we'd been. Admittedly, we both have a flinch reaction to the yellow panels when they drive past. It was a rather heinous 23 hour straight through drive.

But I cannot imagine it otherwise - if it had happened and she had no one and nothing...no way to get the things off the road and off to her new abode. I suppose in this case it really could have been worse.

"We are strong believers in the antitrust laws and in opposing exemptions from the antitrust laws,” Leibowitz told TheWrap, “but when you think about other values, and you think about the First Amendment, this might be one of those rare industries where you must think about ways to ensure the vibrancy of news.”People in a democracy, he said, “need to be informed, and sources of news are enormously important. I think as we all know, [those sources] are incredibly embattled.”He said, however, that the FTC examination will be “much, much broader” than simply whether an antitrust exemption is needed. The agency will look into other reasons for the current problems. “We are going to have economists and journalists and bloggers and people from different parts of the news media, and we are going to think through [what is occurring] and what the future will look like and whether that future -- which might be a handful of newspapers and [TV] networks that don’t have nearly as much reach as they once did and 5 million bloggers -- is a good thing for American democracy,” he said.

Thursday, August 06, 2009

It is always the little things in life that I truly enjoy. The moments fleeting, the gewgaw useless and fragile. But this - well, these - are useful, rustic and yet elegant. Made from mahogany from this fellow, they were shipped sans payment with a kind note inside indicating amount owed. Who DOES that these days?! AMAZING.

You have there a braiding comb (pokey end for parting hair), a hand comb and a hair fork. The feel in the hand is just right - not light but not a burden either. Quality implements that impart no static and no breaking that plastic combs offer. I was a fan of the boar's bristle brush - these may have ended that affection.

These are Side A of the garden - some heirloom purple on the closest end and Roma's the rest of the way. Prolific Romas, might I add.

Here is Side B with your usual basic tomatoes whose name escapes me just now. Down the middle you can hardly see the cucumbers enjoying their shaded roots and dangling fruits. The peppers were not well-planned. Shaded out entirely. (I told him this would happen but what do I know? LOL)

The leaves are curling and it bothers me. The heirlooms are very slow to grow and that is a curious thing. We planted very late in the season and yet - here they are at the start of the "2nd" tomato season for the area. Ready to go. I think we're going to put in some peas and lettuces as it gets a bit cooler. I am betting we could sneak in a good few months of fresh salads with the proper bedding down in the evenings.

Mommer'd be proud. And his Grandpa, too.

P.S. I don't weedeat - I will mow but I do NOT touch the weedeater. Issue yard maintenance inquiries elsewhere.

Oh, get a gander at this mess. That's the best they could do? That's your hope and change? That, my friends, is Hope-LESS. Plenty of change, to be sure! (My respect and kudos to the creator of the chart because THAT was a nearly impossible effort.)

I personally think that there is a sort of web of unrelated and yet deeply associated people who have been positioned in 20 years to take this very road we are on. Cankles? Yes. Why didn't she use the info against him in the contest? Because it didn't matter. It didn't matter if she won.

The goals are the same and they are being met. And what better than to have another mystery "suicide"? Utter turmoil in a country would follow, permitting all manner of jack booted controls to be instituted and then never lifted...Do you think that Biden/Pelosi would rule? Don't be silly.

I work now to afford to get what I need to survive this. The rest - the charade of voting, pretending your taxes are just and equitable, the foolish premise that you are represented - I've never believed it and I never shall. I won't put my neck out there, no. I won't "walk the walk" because I am quite clear on the power they wield. But I will also ensure that I can manage without them. THAT is my only goal.

And we've been blessed to know a number of others who feel the same. And are prepared for much the same. I don't claim to be ready - I don't pretend to any sort of elite skillz. But I am at least walking through this with my eyes wide open. Oh, I See. I always have.

Saturday, August 01, 2009

Yep, that's him in one of his headshots. They came out pretty well considering he - we didn't realize at the time - had to pee like crazy. (May I add that I mentioned to his father that I thought this was the case?)

Turns out handsome devil will be featured on the calendar - over 40 entries and only 6 months for dogs and he made the cut. That's my boy!! Yes, everyone we know and love will get a calendar for a present. Enjoy!

Meanwhile, Ranger is under the care of his favorite vet for a case of, as Trooper calls it, Hot Garbage Ass. Yes, it's rather bad. Not sure why yet because the glands were addressed over a week ago with no lasting solution. (If you own a dog, you likely know what that's all about....) This is a relatively new development - he NEVER smelled dog-like. Not ever. We didn't even have to bathe him often since he spent much of his time indoors. But now? Ugh...hot garbage.

So we're going with the "nuke it from orbit" method of systemic antibiotics in case he ingested something really heinous and it has parked in his gut. If that offers no cure, then the glands will be flushed with antibiotics directly and further exploration of the area of concern™ will be performed. (He recently had a rather prolonged - er - excited state. Another unusual symptom for his neutered condition.) Personally, I think his surgery was performed when he was too young and perhaps something is awry in the general area.

Regardless, we have learned that he will take a pill if you make clear that he will take it. My hide-it-in-the-hotdog trick was a complete failure. I think he even snickered on the 3rd attempt. He mocked me, I swear it.

Trooper is working, of course, and had forgotten his part time tonight...slightly irksome but good money to apply to supplies. Speaking of which....guess which favorite boring blogger now has her own ceramic plates in her own multicam carrier with two-mag pocketses?! Yessss....mmm, mmm! So yummy and lovely. Happy anniversary, lovey!! (How cool are we? Carriers for anniversary presents...)

So...anyway, it's a quiet day around the house. The yard needs mowing, and there is a breeze so I'd might as well do it. I need a shower, anyway, and this will just give me more reason to get off my hind end. Tomorrow...I shall preview my `maters for you. Yes, you may look upon them with envy and desire. Ha HA!

About Me

A middle-aged woman prone to cursing, verbosity and sometimes pomposity.
I have deep respect for the military and its members, an admiration for technically adept people and a need to know everything about everyone.
Politically, you might think of me as a sort of anarcho-capitalist with ancient republican leanings.
Everything here is my own opinion and is not intended to reflect that of any other individual or organization unless precisely stated as such.
Words matter here. Choose yours with care, say what you mean and mean what you say.